To The Land of Nevernight

"Enter the room with your head held high, drink the chrysanthemum in the east window. I invited you to enjoy the chrysanthemum?"

Tang Shen asked back, "Isn't it sir?"

Liang Song looked at Tang Shen fixedly, and after a while, he smiled and said, "Yes. Yuzhi, bring that "Dongchuang Chrysanthemum" to read."

In the distance, the young man in Tsing Yi who once went to Zhaojia Village with Liang Daru nodded respectfully, and went to the study to take a scroll.He stood in front of the withered lotus pond, opened his hands, and slowly opened the scroll.

On the brocade and white rice paper about five feet long, a clump of ink-colored pale chrysanthemums stretches quietly.The pen and ink are elegant and smooth, and very light ink marks can be seen on each chrysanthemum, as light as running water brushing willow buds, and as pale as bluestone with fine moss.A large part of the picture scroll is left blank, except for this bunch of black chrysanthemums under the window, there is only a small poem in the upper left corner.

Flowers do not bloom together with hundreds of flowers, and independent hedges are not exhausted.

I would rather die by holding the incense stick, and never blow it down in the north wind.

The font is written in Zanhua lowercase, which is extremely thin and light, but Tang Shen couldn't help but read it fascinated.This character is graceful, even if it is written in elegant lower case letters, it is difficult to hide the extraordinary vigor of the writer.

Tang Shen looked at the signature of the painting.

There are two cinnabar red seals on the painting, the first one is "Diao Chong Zhai Zhu", and the second one is "Wang Zifeng".

Tang Shen took a few extra glances at the name "Wang Zifeng".

Tang Shen had just traveled to ancient times for half a year, and spent most of the time in Zhaojia Village, and had no chance to come into contact with any calligraphy and painting, let alone famous calligraphy and painting.But when he was studying for a Ph.D. in his previous life, the boss of his Ph.D. supervisor was a fan of calligraphy and painting.The boss himself is a professor of science and engineering, but he likes to collect calligraphy and paintings of literati, which led Tang Shen to dabble in this area as well.

The seals of normal literati are engraved with their own aliases. For example, Li Bai is "Qinglian Layman", and Su Shi is "Dongpo Layman".Those who only have their own name are either young and senior, and have not been given an alias.Either it has a brilliant literary name and is well known to the world.

Did he, a layman, make a mistake?

Tang Shen thought wildly in his mind for a while, but didn't express his doubts.He said: "Sir, you are stupid, I just talked big to you, I don't know how to appreciate paintings."

Liang Song said with a smile: "You are honest."

Tang Shen came from a poor background and was young, so it would be a lie if he said he knew how to appreciate paintings.

Tang Shen changed the subject: "However, I think this painting is very beautiful, and this poem is also well written, and the characters are also well written."

Liang Song: "The painting is beautiful, and the calligraphy is also beautiful? You are so simple in your praise. Tell me, is the painting better or the calligraphy better?"

Tang Shen was taken aback, so the painting and the word were not made by the same person?

Tang Shen remained calm on the surface, but thought about it in his heart.It's not like he really doesn't know how to appreciate paintings, he has fooled the boss several times in his previous life.But Tang Shen from Zhaojia Village shouldn't understand this, but this painting is obviously made by a friend of Liang Daru.

After holding back for a while, Tang Shen said in a sincere tone: "They are all very good, and they are all things that the kid can't draw or write."

Is it okay for him to belittle himself to the head office?

Liang Song laughed, and said: "This word was written by Zifeng. He was intelligent and talented since he was a child. No one knows that he is good at calligraphy and painting. It is really difficult for you to catch up with him. But this painting is different. This is It was painted by the old man. His painting skills are very smelly, and he hasn't improved in the past few years, and it's not like you can't catch up at all."

Tang Shen nodded repeatedly, then shook his head again and again: "Sir, you made fun of the boy."

After going out like this, the atmosphere in the pavilion became more pleasant.

The two ate some food and wine, Tang Shen behaved generously, neither humble nor overbearing, neither flattering nor trembling, which made Liang Daru show his appreciation.When another pot of tea was served, Liang Song put the teacup on the table and made a thud. He smiled and said, "Three months ago, you asked me why scholars study."

As soon as Tang Shen heard it, he knew that he was getting to the point, so he immediately put down his chopsticks.

"Yes, I'm not talented, I once had the guts to ask."

Liang Chandao: "You said back then that scholars study for the sake of knowledge and understanding. Is that true?"

"Correct."

"You're right. Reading is a matter of reason. It's for understanding the truth and debating right from wrong. I didn't give you an answer that day. I'll meet you again today. Tang Shen, let me ask you, is your answer still the same?"

Tang Shen hesitated for a moment, he couldn't figure out what Liang Daru wanted to say, he said, "Yes."

Liang Song smiled slightly, and sighed: "You don't care about Qi Wei, but worry about the death of Zong Zhou, so as to kill him."

Tang Shen raised his head and subconsciously said, "Huh?"

Liang Daru looked at the little boy in front of him carved with jade, and there was admiration in his deep eyes, but also a trace of regret that was hard to find.

"This is my answer to you."

Tang Shen didn't understand the meaning of Liang Daru's words until he left the Liang Mansion, and he didn't even know what the words were.

Tang Shen originally wanted to return the invitation to the housekeeper of the Liang family, but after visiting as a guest, the invitation must be returned to the host.However, the butler said: "Young Master Tang, please accept this invitation."

Tang Shen asked in surprise, "Why?"

"This is the order of the adults."

... Liang Daru's order?

Tang Shen felt confused for the first time, and he went home suspiciously.

Back home, the four members of the Tang family began to admire chrysanthemums and have a banquet.Their family is small, only four people, but they have done all the customs of the Double Ninth Festival.There are no mountains in the city of Gusu Prefecture, but there is a small hill outside the city, and there are Tianping Mountain, Xishan Mountain, and Dongshan Mountain a little further away.

Tang Shen simplified the customs of the Double Ninth Festival, he just stepped on the hillside of the pagoda and planted a dogwood.

At night, Don Juan happily moved a pot of chrysanthemums to the yard, and the four of them enjoyed the chrysanthemums for dinner.

Tang Shen teased and said, "You little girl, you are not very young, and you are very formalistic."

Don Juan: "What is formalism?"

Tang Shen, "You don't understand even if you tell me."

Don Juan: "I don't understand, I understand, anyway, it's not a good word."

Tang Shen laughed out loud.

Soon, four or five days passed, and Tang Shen took out the invitations sent by Liang Daru from time to time to study.

He understood on the day of the Double Ninth Festival that the reason why Liang Daru gave him this invitation must be because there was something tricky in the invitation.

Tang Shen guessed at the beginning that Liang Daru invited him to have dinner on the Double Ninth Festival, because it was written in the invitation that Liang Daru invited him to enjoy the chrysanthemum.The reason why he guessed it was noon and not evening was because Liang Daru, as the Governor of Gusu Mansion, had no time to attend the Double Ninth Festival Banquet of Gusu Mansion to entertain several aristocratic families and wealthy gentry of Gusu Mansion.

It turns out he was right, but...

"What else is there that I haven't found?"

In addition, Don Juan also read all the Four Books and Five Classics.It is a pity that Liang Daru's words "I don't care about its latitude" are not found in the Four Books and Five Classics.Tang Shen had no choice but to give up and read other books when he had a chance.

The business of the pancake shop is getting better and better, and Don Juan secretly hides the money in his small coffers.The weather is getting colder and autumn is coming. It is very comfortable to eat a warm multi-grain pancake in the morning, and more people buy pancakes.

Tang Shen originally wanted to make only [-] per day, but Yao San and Aunt Yao refused no matter what.

Yao San: "Little Boss, just rest. You go to study, I get up early, and I can cook as many pancakes as I can every day."

At this point, it doesn't make much sense to insist on hunger marketing. Tang Shen's multigrain pancakes have already become famous in Suijin Street, and many people come here every day.Yao San saw that Tang Shen often read the Four Books and Five Classics, and thought he wanted to start reading, so he took over the task of making pancakes himself.

Tang Shen didn't stop him either, he didn't go to study yet, but he did have other things to do.

"Brother Yao, go buy some quicklime and a dough screwdriver."

Noodle opener is a commonly used food leavening agent, which is similar to the composition of baking soda in later generations.It is not necessary to use a top screwdriver to make multigrain pancakes, but it is often used to make buns and steamed buns.Yao San thought that Tang Shen was going to sell steamed stuffed buns: "Little boss, are we going to sell steamed stuffed buns again?"

As soon as Tang Shen thought about it, he knew that Yao San had misunderstood, but he couldn't explain it, so he just said, "You go and buy it first."

Soon, Yao San came back with two bags of things on his back.

The Tang family has two large iron pots. The ancient large iron pots are the same as the iron pots used in later generations in the countryside. Unless they are in restaurants, most of the iron pots fit together with the stove and cannot be moved.There are only two iron pots in the Tang family, both of which are used by Mrs. Yao for cooking.

Tang Shen looked at the two iron pots, and said again: "Brother Yao, go and buy another iron pot."

When Yao San came back from buying a new iron pot, Tang Shen poured quicklime into the pot and added some water.

As soon as the water touched the quicklime, it made a sizzling sound and boiled instantly.

Tang Juan and Aunt Yao were attracted by this voice, and Tang Juan asked in surprise, "Brother, what are you doing?"

Tang Shen didn't raise his head: "Make something good."

The reaction between quicklime and water was rapid and violent, and soon a pot of cloudy milky white solution appeared in the pot.Tang Shen immediately put the noodle opener in, and while stirring with an iron rod, he quietly observed the reaction in the pot.

Yao San and the others couldn't understand why, but Tang Shen's actions would be left to future generations, even a high school student would know what he was doing after seeing it.

Yes, he was making sodium hydroxide, also known as caustic soda.

After the slaked lime reacted with the dough screwdriver, a layer of white solid gradually settled to the bottom of the iron pot, and a layer of colorless liquid emerged on the surface.Tang Shen waited patiently. After the reaction in the pot had almost stopped, he carefully grasped the sides of the iron pot and poured the layer of liquid into a porcelain pot.

Due to limited conditions, Tang Shen couldn't obtain sodium hydroxide with high purity, so he could only make do with it.

Then he took a pot of rapeseed oil from the kitchen. He poured the rapeseed oil into the cleaned pot, making sure it covered the entire bottom of the pot, about one finger high, and then put the iron pot on the charcoal stove. Heat up on high heat.The oil heated up quickly, and before the oil heated up, Tang Shen picked up the porcelain jar again and carefully poured the contents of the porcelain jar into the center of the oil pan.

Yao San: "What is the little boss doing?"

How could Mrs. Yao know, and Tang Juan didn't understand at all.The three of them only felt that Tang Shen seemed to be possessed by an evil spirit, and they didn't know what to put in the pot or jar, and a strange liquid poured out after a while.But because they trusted Tang Shen so much, the three of them didn't bother, but watched carefully from the sidelines.

Tang Shen poured half of it, put the porcelain jar on the ground, and said, "Don't touch this jar."

Yao San nodded: "I definitely won't touch it."

Then, Tang Shen began to slowly stir the rapeseed oil and sodium hydroxide in the pot.While heating the iron pan, he kept stirring it.After about a quarter of an hour, he stopped moving, but waited quietly.

While waiting, Tang Shen said to Yao San: "Brother Yao, if I want to make an iron pot, do you see if someone in Gusu Mansion can make it?"

Yao Sandao: "What kind of tin can does my little master want to make? You give me the blueprint, and I'll ask Blacksmith Wang on the street."

"You wait."

Tang Shen went back to the room to get the pen and paper, he drew a picture while thinking.

Yao San took the painting and looked at it.

This thing is really weird, it looks like a jar, but this jar is hollow, and there are some strange lines on the drawing.Yao San looked at it for a long time, and said, "Little Dong, what kind of object is this, I don't understand."

Tang Shen: "Ah, yes, you can't understand this kind of perspective drawing, maybe Blacksmith Wang can't understand it either. Forget it, I'll go ask him with you after I finish the work."

"it is good."

Don Juan didn't understand at all that his brother was doing something delicious.She said: "Tang Shen, what are you doing? Is it delicious? It's filled with dough and oil, but I can't smell it. Is it better than multigrain pancakes?"

Tang Shen heard it: "Delicious? You can't eat it."

"What, can't you eat it? Why do you cook things that you can't eat in a pot?"

"It can't be eaten, but it can make you buy a lot of multigrain pancakes!"

At this time, the contents of the pot gradually solidified.The dark yellow rapeseed oil turned into a solid layer, Tang Shen's eyes lit up, and he shoveled out the top layer of solid.

Tang Shen packed the yellow solids in a jar, and he called Yao San: "Brother Yao, try putting your hands in rapeseed oil."

Yao San: "Huh?"

"Just let it go and try."

Yao San put his hand in and took it out inexplicably, his hands were covered with oil.

Tang Shen fished out a piece of yellow solid from the jar: "Use this to wash your hands."

Yao San washed his hands suspiciously with the yellow solid. He thought it was made from rapeseed oil, and the more he washed it, the oilier it would be.Unexpectedly, it was cleaned after a few washes, and there was no oil on my hands.

Yao San: "Hey, what is this? It's better than that soap!"

Tang Shen smiled and said, "What is this? Good stuff, soap!"

Don Juan and Yao's mother and son were surprised to put their hands in the rapeseed oil and wash their hands with soap.Only Tang Shen walked out of the kitchen, looking at the sky and sighing.

"I didn't expect that I, Tang Shen, would be able to travel through half a year, and I wouldn't be immune in the end!"

Tang Shen made the necessary soap for travelers today.

But he smiled again, he has to make things that are not necessary for traversers!

"Okay Brother Yao, don't wash it. Let's go out first and lock up the kitchen. I've agreed that I'm not allowed to enter the kitchen until I come back, and I'm not allowed to touch anything in the kitchen, especially the one in the porcelain pot. Tang Shen said, "Brother Yao, you and I will go to Blacksmith Wang."

"Okay!"